Five Venoms “Masks” [Tank Top]

The FIVE VENOMS (aka. 5 DEADLY VENOMS) is one of the most iconic, and beloved of all of the Shaw Brothers films. Directed by the incredible Chang Cheh, and released in 1978, the film made stars of its leads, who were hereafter referred to as "The Venoms" by genre fans, and went on (most of them anyway) to make many more films together. The movie tells the tale of five students, each trained in one of the deadly arts of the "Poison Clan"- Toad, Snake, Lizard, Scorpion, and Centipede. As their master dies, he sends a 6th student, trained with a bit of skill from each of their five arts, to make sure his former disciples are not using their skills for evil. Turns out that some are following the path of righteousness, and others are indeed up to nefarious plans. The last Poison Clan student must figure out who is who before more innocent lives are lost. The film is an unforgettable classic, with one of the coolest opening scenes in all of kung fu cinema, where we see each of the masked students honing their skills with various bizarre training equipment. - Kung Fu Bob

I originally created this hand-drawn art as six individual pieces, one for each of the "Five Venoms", plus a drawing for the "6th Student" too (These drawings are still available as prints and posters via the "Kung Fu Bob's Art" tab at the top of the page). Like most fans of the film, I am crazy about the masks that the characters wear. So I decided to utilize my original art to create a FIVE VENOMS design featuring these killer disguises. Each mask is adorned with the totem animal that the character's kung fu skills are based on, mounted on their foreheads. There was a considerable amount of work on the composition, and I found it necessary to redraw certain parts of the masks to make them all work together in this context. Hopefully fans will be happy with the outcome. This is a 4 color design: black, white, gray and light gray.